This criticism is also periodically echoed by some Cuba "experts" in the U.S.

After all, why would anyone voluntarily -- let alone risk their lives to -- flee the Castro's communist tropical paradise, which even Save the World recently ranked (based on the regime's "official" statistics) as one of "the best places in the developing world to be a mother"?

Over the weekend, The Guardian (U.K.) shed further light on this issue:

Havana is being emptied of young people who are choosing emigration after Raúl Castro's promises of more freedoms come to nothing [...] Young people, especially well-educated professionals, are fleeing the island. Tens of thousands have emigrated in the past two years. The exodus has alarmed the communist government but remains largely unreported, a taboo topic for state media.

"It's a sign that the revolution has failed, so they don't want to talk about it. We are losing our future," said Ricardo Martinelli, a university professor who has seen many of his students and his only child, a 23-year-old technician, emigrate in recent months.

So, naturally, this must be the Cuban Adjustment Act's fault, right?

Wrong -- now it's Ecuador's fault:

Ecuador has become a magnet, because it requires only a letter of invitation rather than a visa. Last year Cuban arrivals soared by 147% to 27,114, according to the national immigration agency. The number of Cubans marrying Ecuadorians jumped from 88 in 2007 to 1,542 in the first nine months of 2009.